Aslan Maskhadov

Aslan Maskhadov (21 September 1951-8 March 2005) was the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from 1997 to 2005, succeeding Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and preceding Abdul-Halim Sadulayev. He declared Chechnya's independence from Russia and won the First Chechen War, repelling a Russian invasion. However, he lost the Second Chechen War and was killed in a battle at Tolstoy-Yurt.

Biography
Maskhadov was born to a Sufi Muslim Chechen family in Karaganda in the Kazakh SSR of the Soviet Union; his family moved to present-day Kazakhstan during Soviet Union premier Joseph Stalin's forced exodus of the Chechen people. He joined the Soviet Army and trained in Georgia, but after the fall of the USSR he became a commander of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

As a general in the ChRI, Maskhadov fought against Russia during the First Chechen War, defeating the Russian invading army as well as the anti-separatist militia. Maskhadov was credited for the Chechen victory in the war, and succeeded Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev as President in 1997 upon his death. Maskhadov signed a peace treaty with President Boris Yeltsin of Russia, and in 1999 introduced Islamic sharia law to the denizens of his country.

In the summer of 1999, he condemned Ibn al-Khattab and Shamil Basayev's efforts to spread war to the neighboring region of Dagestan, as he had recently made peace with Russia. However, President Vladimir Putin of Russia was eager for a new conflict with Chechnya and he launched an invasion of the country.

Death
Maskhadov was killed by a grenade thrown by FSB counter-terrorist units of the Russian Federation in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt in 2005, while fighting against Russian forces in the village. His death ended the war, but insurgency continued under his successor Abdul-Halim Sadulayev.